How long does it take to learn Mandarin Chinese?

[Nobunaga]

Hi, all

I generally do not have any knowledge about Mandarin Chinese. Due to some special reasons, I need to learn it to achieve it as soon as possible. I have read through several posts, and they do helped me to gives me some basic understandings of this language. But I am still confused with the difficulty of the HSK and the learning periods of this test.  Please feel free to discuss, it would be very helpful if any of you can explain this exam. 

[somethingfunny]

1. What is your timescale for this process?
2. How much time can you commit a day/week?
3. How well do you need to able to speak/read etc?

[Chris Two Times]

How long does it take to learn Mandarin Chinese?

 

A lifetime!

 

Several lifetimes!

[Flickserve]

You learn patience is a virtue faster than learning Chinese.

 

If you want to learn faster, the more time you put into it, the better it will be.

[Lu]

4. Have you ever learned a foreign language before?

[陳德聰]

5. What is your mother tongue?

6. What is the intended application?

[TonganRambo]

Are you intending to learn Mandarin as fast as possible or pass a certain HSK as fast as possible? The study schedule for each would look a lot different. Studying to pass an exam is a completely different mindset than studying to learn the language. 

[i__forget]

I'm no where with my Chinese studies yet but I'll give the magic number:
2100 hours

[Lumbering Ox]

I get the impression that it would take about 3500 hour to get to the HSK 6 level give or take a bit depending on background and ability.

Based on that Foreign Language Institute they say 2200 hours. With some digging I figure add 70% for personal study time [more or less again] for about 3750 which would be an IFR 3 or C1 on the Euro Scale. Which seems to be the level of the HSK6 if you were to go a bit beyond the 5K vocab I'd figure. However I don't think they push writing very hard.

 

Of course if you are a 15 year old native Cantonese speaker who has also learned to fluency Japanese, Arabic and one of those insane Euro languages like Finnish or Hungarian than it shouldn't take much time at all.

 

If you are an 80 year old unilingual English speaker with very little aptitude for language then it will take much much much longer.

 

 

[Publius]

Nobunaga is a Japanese name. If you are a native Japanese speaker or have learned Japanese to an advanced level, then you can have a 500 hour deduction (presumably spent on "remembering the kanji" ).

[TonganRambo]

I don't think it would take 3500 hours to pass the HSK6 test. If you were solely studying for the test, you could probably reach HSK6 in 6-8 months of concentrated, effective study. Those numbers given are to learn the language as a whole, they aren't anywhere near what it would take to pass a test. For example, I'm in a 4th-year Chinese class in college, but if you were to study my textbook chapter, the associated vocabulary and grammar patterns, you could probably let a Chinese 101 student take my test and they would be able to pass it with perhaps a week of studying. That's not saying in one week they reached the same level as me, but when you are focusing on a specific test it is orders of magnitude easier. 

[艾墨本]

2 hours ago, TonganRambo said:

 

I don't think it would take 3500 hours to pass the HSK6 test. If you were solely studying for the test, you could probably reach HSK6 in 6-8 months of concentrated, effective study. Those numbers given are to learn the language as a whole, they aren't anywhere near what it would take to pass a test. For example, I'm in a 4th-year Chinese class in college, but if you were to study my textbook chapter, the associated vocabulary and grammar patterns, you could probably let a Chinese 101 student take my test and they would be able to pass it with perhaps a week of studying. That's not saying in one week they reached the same level as me, but when you are focusing on a specific test it is orders of magnitude easier. 

 

This is all very true. That said, the 3500 hours figure sounds about right assuming that the HSK 6 test successfully tested your level. Getting your comprehensive level to what HSK 6 should represent will take that time.

[AaronUK]

I thought I was doing well to have approx. 2 hours of classes a week over the last 2 years and getting to HSK3. my study would be around 200 hours so I guess I have a long way to go to fluency.

[Lumbering Ox]

7 hours ago, AaronUK said:

I thought I was doing well to have approx. 2 hours of classes a week over the last 2 years and getting to HSK3. my study would be around 200 hours so I guess I have a long way to go to fluency.

200 hours of class time, 200 hours of study, HSK. Sounds about right. Linguistic high five! In that context you are doing well.

[lechuan]

7. Why HSK?

8. Do you need to learn to read and write characters immediately? If not, you can progress more rapidly conversationally by focusing on Listening/Speaking/Pinyin in the short term.

[happy_hyaena]

I know people and know of people who have passed HSK5 after 6-8 months of study (I.e, second semester of Chinese, in China), but they were Korean and had an advantage with vocabulary. A westerner could maybe also do it if they were a top learner and really just only focused on HSK5. A teacher at my university back in NanDa told me of a Swedish guy who did it in a year and who was nothing short of amazing.

 

HSK6 on the other hand? No way. You couldn't possibly bullshit your way through that in less than a year's time, or really in general. 

 

 

To the guy who has 2 hours of class a week, are you in High School and taking Chinese as an elective? How much time do you spend learning outside of class?

[天空神]

I know there's hours associated with how long it takes to be fluent in Mandarin. It's something like 2500-3000 hours, correct me if I'm wrong

 

I was curious though what does that 3000 hours mean? Is that immersed in China? Is it learning in a school for 3000 hours? Is it studying on your own for 3000 hours? 

 

Or is it just a variance of all those things and then some?

[Wurstmann]

I think the FSI numbers are 2200 hours spent in class plus the same spent studying at home. 

[happy_hyaena]

To answer OP's question, my answer is: 3-4 years, depending on your definition of fluency. But you will definitely be able to enjoy the benefits of learning the language long before that.

 

I just finished a semester at NanDa (and will contribute to its thread when I get the time). That university has 8 levels of Chinese: 初上，初下，中上，中下，高上，高下，文化版第一，文化版第二。 So Basic, Middle, Advanced and Culture levels, each divided into an easier and harder class. Each level is one semester. Notes at the end.

 

Some facts about the levels:

中上 students are expected to pass HSK4, with the very best students even aiming for HSK5 at the end of the semester. This level represents B1.

 

中下 and 高上 students are expected to pass HSK5, and many will have already done so if they require it for their scholarships. 中下 has the first course focused on reading newspapers. According to the back side of a textbook made by NanDa, 高上 is the B2 level threshold.

 

Passing the HSK 5 level with a score above 200 points allows students to apply for a master's programme at NanDa. Of course, if your Chinese doesnt actually correspond to that, you might have a very difficult time.

 

高下 is listed as B2+. At this point, after 3 years of studying in China, you should be pretty darn good.

 

文化版 are really good. I knew 4 people from that class. One of them is doing her master's, the other is finishing up her doctorate - all in Chinese of course. According to the aforementioned book, this level is C1. Not Native-like, but coming close.

 

Here are some things to take note of:

 

- There's a variance in student ability within each level. People's abilities can overlap over different levels. If you study a lot, you could potentially skip a level and save a semester. I know one person who skipped right into 高上 from 中上.

 

- If you just a study properly and apply yourself it is pretty straightforward and easy to pass to the next level, but some people cheat on the test anyway, or rely on Chinese friends/partners to help them with their projects.

 

(- These are independent levels that, while building on each other, seem to not always be taken from start to finish. Many people came to study just as a mandatory part of their programmes in their home universities, or to supplement their other studies in NanDa. Because of this, some of the 文化版 students might have spent longer than 6-7 semesters worth of time in China.)

 

 

- There were a lot of Koreans who took one intensive month of studying in Korea, doing 6 hours of classes and then homework on top of that, and as a result didn't take the first semester, or might have even jumped the second semester as well and joined 中上 directly.

 

 

In any cases, my reason for writing this up is that I've noticed a discrepancy between what is written online by learners of Chinese in the West (hobby learners like myself or not), and how people who were willing/had the opportunity to come to China and study full-time in the country itself.

 

People commenting online have access to way better study techniques and software, while many of my fellow students were simply stuck with what the teachers and the school provided, never really considering that there is a world of language learners online. On the other hand, while people complain about the difficulties of Chinese, I did not see the pessimism I sometimes see here or other places online. Due to being immersed in China, being part of a proper programme; people not only make good progress but also have very obvious way to measure their progress and put it in a greater context.

(This does not apply to people who come here and just screw around with other foreigners.) I personally was able to benefit from both and am very happy with the progress I made.

 

---

 

Anyway, this post derailed quite a bit, but the point is that you can become B2-C1 fluent in 3-4 years.

 

Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I wrote this on my phone.

 

 

Edit: my programme was a typical 20 hours a week for 16 weeks type of deal. 20 class hours/week * 16 weeks/semester * 2 semesters/year * 3 years = 1920 class hours. For 4 years, that's 2560 hours. This does not include any other activity related to Chinese, such as doing homework, consuming media, tutoring, speaking to friends (whether they be Chinese or other foreigners), or dealing with other daily situations.

 

[Wurstmann]

10 hours ago, happy_hyaena said:

For 4 years, that's 2560 hours.

 

So the FSI seems to be about right with its recommendation of 2200 classroom hours. 

 

I think the problem with self-learners is, that it takes most of us a lot longer to put in a comparable amount of time. As a result a lot of people's motivation wavers which leads to even less time being used for studying.